Okay so we are in Colorado...we are headed home in the morning. We have had a lot of fun. We are tired. We are ready to be home! Dale is fun to be with, he loves his "Unca Dave". Merideth has figured out the fine art of "how to get to sleep with mommy all night". And I have really enjoyed being with my Mom and Sister. I will update more later about the trip. We head up the mountain to get Jordan and Meghan from Eagle Lake Camp and then on to Texas. Back to the heat but home to Stephen...I can hardly wait...
e

So I was TAGGED by my friend "S" in Mississippi to do this and since she said I would probable be the ONLY one who did it I feel guilty not...so here goes...

Four jobs I have had in my life
1) Office Assistant while in High School
2) Made and sold hairbows with parents and family at craft shows, along with other "crafty" things!
3) Doughnut cook and seller!
4) Banker

Four Movies I would watch over and over
1) Legally Blond
2) Sweet Home Alabama
3) Paws and Tales
4)

Four places I have lived as an adult
1) Wichita Falls TX
2) Mexico Beach Fl
3) Abilene TX
4) Columbus MS

Four TV Shows I love to watch
1) Lost
2) Invasion
3) Law and Order SVU
4) Flipped

Four Places I have been on Vacation
1) Taos
2) Hawaii
3) Padre Island
4) Colorado...

Which leads me to my kids and I are about to head out to go on an adventure with my Mom to Denver. We are going to see my sister Heather Belle and her husband Dave and their dog Lucy. Then we are going to pick up the little girls from Eagle Lake camp. We will be gone a week. It will be a lot of fun, we are going to Focus on the Family, The Navigators, and I get to reconnect with a great friend and I get to smell my sister. I am looking forward most of all to being with my Mother. It is funny this time I am bringing the CD's to listen to! Normally she brings Moses along by Chuck Swindoll. But I have some from FOF that I want to listen too!! Pray we have safe travels and make many memories! e

New day new way of looking at things. I am thinking that the to do list was so that we could "evaluate" if we spend our time wisely...duh! I think in many ways I do. We don't watch too much tv. I do talk on the phone too much but it is ALWAYS to get prayer requests and to help others....ha ha. No I am working on that...seen any progress parents!!

Anyway.

The kids and I are off to a homeschool playgroup this am. I really enjoy this, I think they do. The Moms are outstanding and I always come away refreshed and renewed by being with them. I am going to talk with one of them today about purchasing her used curriculum for Dale's pre-k. We have decided on Sonlight. I am really excited about it.

Okay so I am rambling....more later...

maybe?? e

okay so no today list earlier today...but here it is...late

make Stephen lunch
QT
make beds
get kids up
breakfast
counseling
going away lunch for military friend
grocery shopping
nap time for kids
laundry
make phone calls
play/read with kids
proofing of photos
supper prep
supper
photo shoot (engagement session)
home get started on proofing
spend some time with Stephen

man I am tired just typing it!!

I am down to the supper part and we are waiting for Stephen to come home. LONG DAY here. Hope he gets here soon enough for the photo shoot!!

e

Summer fun and friends. Dale had a few of his pals over on Saturday and we had some fun. The house they are in is Merideth's. She doesn't seem to mind that he "shares" it with her! They had a lot of fun this weekend. Dale is growing fast before we know it he won't be able to stand up in the playhouse! I think he has made the transition to our new home finally with his new friends. It is neat to see how my friends in Mississippi prayed for us friends here in Texas and how we have them. How they are what we needed as a family, what Dale needs, what I need. Our God is Awesome!!

The photo of Merideth was taken on Friday BEFORE her haircut. I will post one of that later today....did you realize it is Monday already!! Let me update you on our little girl and then I will get on with the week. Meme as Dale has been calling her is so funny. She is pepieing all the time. She "loves" a good game of "pat a cake" and enjoys eskimo kisses a lot. But if you want her to walk FORGET IT! Now remember she is 14 months old! O well...she even has hissy fits, don't know where she gets that, when I try to work with her on it! She will blow kisses, says DOG all day and eats anything she gets her hands on or in!! She is a JOY all around!

Okay so friend S has challenged me to post my to do list this week from some other blog she reads....friend S is also tp://deuteronomy6.blogspot.com/ try her blog out....(WOW I DID SOMETHING TECHNICAL!!) So here it is

Monday

Quiet time..while drinking coffee

Check email

8AM Dentist pray for me I get scared!

Clean floors and dust

Process photo shoots and orders proofs while kids are napping/make potential client calls

make supper

4pm counseling

6pm supper

7pm baths for kids

8pm bedtime for kids

hope this is what it is what it is supposed to look like....HOW DO I GET THE double space thing off??????

Talk more later!! e

oh ask me about grape syrup!!!

I must be on a roll...well maybe I will start one anyway! I got up before 7AM!! Got the coffee started, made muffins, got Merideth up, played with her, ate breakfast with Stephen, played with Dale when he got up, fed kids, put Merideth up for nap, had quiet time, talked on phone, now I am bloggin'! Whew I need a NAP!!

Todays BIG event is to make grape jelly here is photo of Dale and Poppy getting the grapes from my parents vineyard.

I know it is just their hands but WOW isn't it something. I am going to get this one printed!!

e

Just take a "refreshing" 30 minute nap is what my friend CC suggested to me yesterday. I thought that this sounded reasonable, I was having 20 women over for a fellowship Bible study in which I needed to cook the main course, finish cleaning house, and get the kids ready to leave. But hey CC had NEVER steered me wrong before! Well the nap was REFRESHING and it was 30 minutes but I added another HOUR to it!! I did get everything done. The meeting was wonderful, food great, fellowship outstanding. Thanks S for the recipe I could not find! On a side note I do not recommend cleaning the shower while actually taking a shower, the fumes can get to you!!

Since I am breaking the LAW and blogging without having my QT (quiet time) I better run and spend some time in prayer and the Word. I pray you all have a great day! Just to explain this LAW, my friend S and I have decided no calls or blogs till time in His presence! Great LAW don't you think!

Wow we had fun at the zoo! The girls were so sweet to play with my children and show them all of the animals. The zoo here is really small, but that is great for my young kids. We had a picnic and saw all the animals in under 2 hours!

Stephen is on his way home, I hope. Supper is in the oven...Yea! King Ranch Casserole! I made 2, one for tonight and one for the freezer. I will blog more on freezer meals later.

Tonight I have a photo shoot that could lead to more senior sessions...Pray all goes well. I always have fun on these!

e

Wow! What a couple of days here we have had. Yesterday we went to Graham and helped to celebrate birthday's in our family. (photos to come later!) My Sister in law's parents and my parents. This weekend the 8th is my Daddy's 60th birthday. Seems really young to me! We did something really fun for him. Each of us kids, meaning my brother, sister and I and our families came up with 20 memories, attributes, character traits that we appreciate about him. It was really special and brought back a lot of fun memories. I really enjoyed seeing my brother and his family share theirs. He and his wife had their kids do some also and it was so moving. We have an awesome family!

Okay well I am off and running! My nieces came home with us so I am going to spend some time with them...They are fun.

Tonight we went and watched the fireworks with some good friends. It was a lot of fun. Dale was so funny. He and his "buddies" were really loud and laughed and giggled. My friend and I felt sorry for the people beside us for about 2 seconds until we remembered that they came after we got there and saw we had 4 kids. I said it was like pulling in next to the "Griswalds". Dale and her kid's where sharing apples and Dale kept YELLING "I need to go peep" which means potty. I am sure noone will forget this 4th of July!! Merideth would say "oooh" and yelled "daddy" the whole time!

Okay so this is one of my favorite photos of the kids. Merideth is patting her Dale on the head.

From the minute I told Dale we were having a baby he told me it was a girl. And it was his baby! Well I think it is HER brother!

They are so special, Stephen and I realize this. It is so hard to be all the things I think they need me to be. I want so badly for them to know Christ through me, I realize that is in many ways wrong. I can model His love. But I am a sinner. So I strive to show them His perfect love. To be patient and kind; to love their Daddy, to have a home open to people but most importantly to honor God with the precious gifts we give back to Him everyday named Dale and Merideth.

Okay so here I go again. Well at least I have been consistent on commenting on some blogs lately with the same name...Maybe that will help me to keep up with this. Not that any one person will want to read about me..well here I go...

So tonight we or rather I decided that Dale could watch a movie with Stephen and I. If you don't know we have removed all television, videos, DVD's, etc from said boys life. (more on that later) We watched "Dreamer" it was a really good movie. Of course Dale talked the ENTIRE time but it was fun to all sit together and watch it and eat homemade chocolate chip cookies.

Okay so we have been having some issues with Dale being to excited, hyper, or not able to focus on things. A sweet friend said that she doesn't allow her kids to watch TV and that it helped them out a lot...O WOW does it ever!! It even helps me too. I don't know how I ever had time to watch all the poo poo I did and get anything done. I am really trying to get to a schedule where I get up before the kids and read my Bible, drink my coffee, and unload the dishwasher. Makes my day better...Anyway I digressed from the TV thing. So anyway before we had Merideth; Dale didn't really watch much TV. When I was in the beginning of my pregnancy in Mississippi and was so sick and he was about 18 mo old he began upon the road of a lot of TV watching! We had read "Bringing Up Boys" and it suggests that children don't watch any television until age 2 and that they will have more of an imagination and such. It is true, we had seen that in Dale.He has a great imagination and he plays really well by himself in his room. He is getting back into that routine since we turned the box off again. So anyway that is why no TV...Maybe some in small doses later....Merideth doesn't need to watch it either and hey what is wrong with music and listening to CD's and reading books together! I highly recommend "Paws and Tales" by Insight For Living, they are great!

Okay have a great night!!